With the raising trend of using crystals and gemstones for just about everything in fashion, your home, and even personal health, how is one to know how to spot which gemstone pieces are actually real and which are a cheaper version of the real thing? Gemstone jewelry has long been a sought after treasure dating as far back as 500 BC. Gemstones themselves are a natural product of the earth formed from minerals, cut and then polished to be used. Gems are believed to hold healing properties as well as incredible beauty, equating to its desirability and overall value. Rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings are some of the most popular gemstone jewelry pieces to date making for prized investment pieces and sentimental family heirlooms.
The first step to spotting authentic gemstone jewelry is by increasing your knowledge about them. Gemstones come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Among the most precious stones are diamonds, blue sapphire, ruby and emerald. Whereas, pink sapphire, Tanzanite, opal, topaz, peridot, garnet, moonstone, rhodalite, pearl, hematite, onyx, amethyst, citrine, tourmaline, cubic zirconia and jade are considered to be among the collective of semi-precious stones.
Although there isn't a universal grading system for gemstones, many are commonly graded by their quality, color, cut and clarity similarly to how diamonds are graded. During this process high-quality gemstones are easily identified from the depth of the tone, purity of hue and color saturation. This means that high-quality gemstones will exhibit traces of other colors in like tones that aren't extremely contrasting. At the end of this grading process gemstones are assigned a letter, AAA being the highest grade and D being the lowest grade of gemstone.
Let's say you're not an expert, a jeweler or a gemologist, how you can tell? Take a close look at the piece. The true beauty of naturally formed gemstones is that they carry imperfections. If the gemstone in question looks uniform or flawless and holds no unique characteristics chances are you are looking at an imitation stone.
Another thing to consider is what other gemstones or metals is the jewelry made with? Authentic gemstones required proper maintenance and storage, hold their value over time and are typically reserved for special occasions. More often than not semi-precious and precious gemstones are used with other gems of equal or greater value and precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium. These luxurious additions only help to increase the overall value and desirability of the piece. Imitation stones are often paired with low cost metals such as rhodium, alloy and brass. They also depreciate in value over time.
If you're still unable to determine whether or not a jewelry piece has real gemstones, this next pointer will be the solidifying factor. Authentic gemstones are significantly more valued than imitation gemstone thus confirming the higher price tag. Real gemstone jewelry can cost anywhere from fifty to thousands of dollars per carat. If you're examining a piece that is priced very affordably, chances are the gemstones on the piece are not real.
So what are imitation gemstones, how are they made and why would people want to still wear them? Imitation gemstones are exactly that, an imitation or cheaper version of the real gemstones. They are man-made by dropping powered chemicals through a high-temperature flame that melts and falls onto a pedestal creating a synthetic crystal once completely hardened.
Though synthetic gemstones don't hold the healing properties of authentic gemstones they still can be quite beautiful in appearance. In fact, imitation gemstones are widely used in fashion and custom jewelry. Though they hold little to no true value these man-made gemstones due have some benefits to the wearer. Imitation gemstones are widely available, give the same look and are a fraction of the price. Not to mention they don't require the maintenance or storage of real gemstones, they help save the environment with a more ethical production process and they can be worn more frequently and freely.
Now that you know how to spot the real gemstones from the fake ones, which will you choose to wear? Here at Jade Alycia we love to give a variety of options in every accessories we design including our jewelry. This fall we have welcomed in our largest jewelry collection yet, Written In Stone. This collection consists of 15 pairs of gemstone statement earrings ranging in color, length and luxury. Inspired by our sustainability standards we have incorporated designs with both authentic and imitation gems included. Here are just of few of our favorites! The Amethyst 14K Gold-Filled Crystal Stone Dangle Earrings, Trust The Process Cubic Zirconia 14K Gold-Filled Crystal Dangle Earrings and Jade Peridot 14K Gold-Filled Stone Dangle Earrings are among our favorite authentic gemstone jewelry pieces. Equally as treasured are our Divine Alignment 18K Gold-Plated Stone Dangle Earrings, Quartz 18K Gold-Plated Stone Dangle Earrings and Alycia 14K Gold-Filled Stone Dangle Earrings featuring man-made gemstones.
Shop the entire collection right now from the comfort of your home on Shop Live With Jade.